Restaurante Raíces

This was by far the best place we ate during our trip! The food was absolutely delicious. I had the seafood dish — it was amazing and very generous in portion, definitely something I highly recommend. It was more than enough for one person. My husband chose a traditional meat dish; while it was tasty, the portion was a bit small and he didn’t feel completely full. After our meal, we tried the flan for dessert — honestly, it was the best flan I’ve ever had. A must-try! The staff were very friendly and helpful. We did have to wait a while for the food to arrive, and we wish the service had been a bit faster. But aside from that, everything was wonderful.

We stopped in during our recent cruise aboard the Carnival Celebration. It was highly recommended so we had to try it out. Unfortunately, I guess everyone on the ship decided to do the same, as they got slammed, slowing down service drastically. They opened at 11am, sitting by 1105a and done by 135p, not quite how I wanted to spend my afternoon in Puerto Rico but the food was delicious and our waiter was awesome. He continued to check on us constantly, bringing us drinks and informing us of the delays. Overall great spot if no cruise ships in port.

We were walking around looking for a restaurant for lunch. One of the workers standing outside said, if you want the best Puerto Rican food in Old San Juan, come in. The menu was so extensive. And, what we ordered was excellent. The servers were wearing traditional Jivaro Attire which gave a nice touch. The restaurant has two distinct dining areas. My last observation was that more than half the restaurant was filled with local customers.

None of the dishes were very good. Fish was overcooked, octopus was tasteless and hard. Crab dish was ok but very little filling for the shell thickness. Best one was the sausage and that’s more related to quality of ingredients than the cooking. Not a place to come back or recommend.

When asking locals for their recommendation as to the best restaurant in San Juan, several recommended Raices. Almost all of the locals recommended trying mofongo, with each one of the locals having a different favorite variety. Some in our party tried various mofongo dishes. We were not crazy about the mofongo itself, which was not tasty enough to make us want to eat much of it. The mofongo is made of mashed plantains, that is very lightly seasoned. The various foods that sit on top of the mofongo were good, though. If you are from the states, I would suggest that you consider resisting the strong recommendations from locals to eat mofongo. Clearly, it is a wildly popular dish in Puerto Rico, but there is a difference between the local tastes and our tastes. It was not bad, but, from our perspective, it was not great either. I did not mark down points for the mofongo, because the issue is our personal taste, not that the dishes were improperly prepared. One person in our party ordered Seafood Paella, which was gorgeous and delicious. Now, that, I would highly recommend. We finished the meal with a variety of flan desserts. They were delicious also. The servers wear old-fashioned uniforms, which goes along with the restaurant’s decor. Our server was great. She was friendly and attentive.